Dibble Dabble Drabbles
by IshiHatake23
Summary: A collection of drabbles revolving around the Gangreen Gang. Ratings, content warnings, pairings(or lack of),and genres will vary, see top of each chapter for full information. Yes there will be Arturo, Grubber, and Billy centric chapters where Ace and Snake are not the main focus. Very likely Miss Keane, Jack Wednesday, and other villains will make secondary main character cameos.
1. April Fools In Love (SnAce)

**For April Fools Day Ace and Snake want to prank the guys and all of Townsville with the hoax that they're dating.**

 **Rated T for language**  
 **Genre houmor, (mild) romance**  
 **SnAce fake dating trope**

* * *

"What are we gonna do tomorrow, Snake?" Ace asked as he lazily bounced a ratty tennis ball off the ceiling from where he was sprawled out on the patchwork sofa.

"Dunno'ss" Snake ended his game of solitaire and looked over at the sleeping dog pile of the younger gangreens. "Pull sssomething on the guyss?"

The ball stopped and Ace stared hard at the ceiling, lips doing the little quirk he did when he really had to think on something. Should they? The gang hardly ever went after each other on April Fools, they wouldn't be expecting it. But that was just three people, what were they going to do the rest of the day? April Fools was the gangs second favorite holiday, they had to fuck with people.

"What if we did somethin' that got _everyone_?" Ace asked to the ceiling.

Snake grinned and shook his head. Only Ace would try to shoot that big. "What would work on everyonesss?"

Again with the quirk, the older teen's fangs distorting his lips a bit. What could they pull off together, just the two of them, that would throw everyone for a loop and get a big laugh out of it at the end of the day?

Ace got up and paced around, trying to think. "Maybe screw with people's heads instead of the usual stuff.. Like a hoax or somethin'."

It would have to be good, totally out of left field, but still in the ballpark of being believable. Dropping down into his usual seat at the head of the card table he started idly messing with the cards from Snake's forgotten game. Numbers, Kings, Queens.. Somebody, hard telling who since they all had a habit of doodling on shit, had scribbled on a few. A severed head on a King's sword, what was probably meant to be Joker-esque style scars on a Jack, a snake on the Ace of Spades-

Ace held the card up to eye level and stared. It wasn't art by a long shot, but the way the serpent looked like it was coiling around the center spade was cool. The two symbols looked pretty bad ass paired up like that..

"I got it." Ace flicked the card at Snake. "Look at this."

"Dammit, thiss iss my good deck." Snake hissed when he saw the doodle. "But what aboutss it?"

"I thought you was the one that was into symbolism an' shit."

Looking down again Snake's slit eyes narrowed at the card and the boss gangreen could see the gears turn and click. "Are you sseriouss?"

Ace wiggled his eyebrows over his shades. "You up for it?"

Fake dating best friends. An oldie and cliche, maybe a little too cliche. "Think it'll workss? Everyone'ss going to think it'ss fake since it'ss April Foolss."

Even with the flaw pointed out Ace didn't pay it any mind. "We just gotta convince'em then. Nothing we ain't done before."

"One thing we haven't done if anyone asskss uss to provess it."

This time Ace did fumble. "Yeah, there is that _one thing_ ain't there.."

Sure there'd been some pda in the long time they'd been friends, they were attached at the hip enough that they usually did it without realizing it. A casual hug instead of a high-five sometimes, tangling up on the couch when they watched movies or played video games, and a lot of arms getting thrown around shoulders at random times. But if they tried to pull this off and someone dared them to prove it, well, that was on a completely different level.

Ace shifted in his chair, propping his elbows on the plywood table. "I'm okay with it. You okay with kissin' me?"

Snake had to clear his throat before answering, but returned the casual tone. "I don't really mind, Bosss."

"We're on then." Ace flashed a cheesey grin at his best friend and leaned forward. "Ya' know, nobody's gonna believe us if we're awkward about it sooo.. kiss on it?"

Snake's slit eyes rolled, but he mirrored the lean. "Youss keep using thosse cheessy linesss and I'm fake breaking up with youss."

"You wouldn't fake leave me, you fake love me too much." Ace sing songed.

But the teasing and laughing bled out as it sank in they were actually going through with this.

Ace looked from Snake's black lips to his slit eyes. "You sure? Really sure?"

The younger gangster swallowed hard as he did a little staring of his own. "Yeah. Youss?"

"Yeah. Yeah, totally fine." Then why was it so damn hard to do? No, he could do this. Sweaty hands and butterflies were for school girls, not hard eyed street kids.

The kiss was a little chaste, a little misplaced, but it wasn't bad. Even if they hadn't meant for it to get as deep or linger on it like they did.

"So, uh," Ace pulled back first, but stayed leaned over the corner of the table, close enough to feel his own breath ricochet off Snake's skin. "not awkward at all, right?"

Snake's forked tongue flicked out over his slightly swollen bottom lip. "Nopess.."

"What.. de' unholy fuck..?"

Arturo was sitting up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and staring at them.

Well, it _**was**_ after midnight. Let the game begin. 

* * *

It was wild- to them anyways. It was a shocker how chill the gang was with the idea that they'd hooked up. For half the morning Ace and Snake were tiptoeing around with the prank because they were suspicious the guys knew it was fake and were counter pranking them, faking acceptance of the fake relationship to let the them make idiots of themselves. But the day rolled on and the threat of a counter prank just kept shrinking, the guys barely paying the pda and other crap they tried to use to get a rise out of them any mind.

"Sshould we givess it up?" Snake asked quietly as he and Ace walked through the arcade, green fingers laced together.

"Not yet." Tilting his head Ace directed his partner's attention to the prize counter. "Look."

The guys might not have been struck stupid by the reveal, but the old man behind the counter was. Mouth open like fish, hand still holding down the lever for the '200 tickets for 1 bag of jellybeans' machine and the little rolly pollys had overflowed the bag and bouncing off the nappy carpet.

"We can pull this off, even if the guys don't give a fuck everyone else is still fair game." And just for show Ace caught the prize man's eyes and brought their laced hands up to kiss Snake's knuckles. Aaaand the whole bag dropped to the floor, jelly beans scattering everywhere.

"What did I ssay about being cheesssy?" Snake hissed, the skin under his eyes that would be his cheeks if he'd been normal darkening a few shades.

"You said cheesy lines. You didn't say anything about, eh what'dya call'em, _romantic gestures_." Ace grinned and bumped Snake's side teasingly while sing-songing, "Did I _embarrass_ you?"

Snake answered the bump by leaning in, even briefly putting his head against the older teen's shoulder for show. "Sshut up, Bosss, you're face isss red too."

"Shit, is it?" With his free hand Ace scrubbed a hand down his face like he could rub the heat away.

They laughed at each other's embarrassment as they walked, jabbing and snarking, trying to see how far they could push the other like a game of chicken.

An hour or so later as the gang headed out- after stealing quarters from the machines and rigging the public toilet to flood next time someone flushed- the prize man behind the counter made a grab for the phone mounted on the wall. "Listen, you are not gonna believe who just came in here holding hands.. _**Yes.**_ Yes they did and you owe me twenty bucks."

Word traveled fast in Townsville and today Ace and Snake's apparent hook up was what everybody was talking about.

"Howss did it get around sso fasst?" Snake hissed in aggravation at yet another 'I told you they were together!' from a few passersby.

"This place is a living gossip column, I'd say everyone's heard it by now." Ace guessed, feeling irritated himself. Way too many eyes on his back for comfort.

Even though this is what they'd planned, what they'd _**wanted**_ , it was off putting how fast it spread and how many people were shouting it on the street. Even more off putting was how they were shouting it. The guys being okay with it at least made some sense, they were their friends. But everybody else getting excited about it, about _them_? Neither could get their heads around it.

"Oh my God finally!"

That made both older gangsters stop dead in the middle of the street.

" 'Finally' ?" Ace parroted out loud and turned to the other three for an explanation. "The fuck?"

Grubber quickly put a crooked finger to the side of his nose, quickly making Billy do the same. Arturo didn't notice the 'nose goes' not-it game until it was too late.

" _Joder_.." The shrimpy gangreen groaned, but sharp glares from both of his superiors made him talk. "See the thing is.. Well, everybody already thinks you two got somethin' goin' on. Like _**goin' on**_. And half of Townsville's just been waiting on you to.. go.. public."

Ace and Snake stared at the smallest member before looking around at all the people pointing and whispering.

"Well, ssshit."

"Jokes on us."


	2. Something to Prove (Arturo)

**Summary:** Arturo hates being the youngest member of the gang and wants to prove he's every bit as hardcore and street wise as Ace and Snake. Too bad pulling off risky shit by yourself on the streets only looks easy in the movies.

 **Chapter warnings** : Arturo centric. Some violence, language, drugs **but** only one instance of actual use towards the end, some bonding between Snake and Arturo. Set 2 years after the canon time line, no universe/character changes except for that.

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* * *

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It was late February and Townsville was slowly waking up bit by bit from the winter lull. The street sweepers were up and running, shops were cleaning out to get ready for new stock, and street walkers were starting to poke their heads out from wherever they'd holed up during the cold months.

Arturo was doing the same, the winter had been a bitch and the gang's shack had started to feel cramped. Today was the first day of the year warm enough to go out without a coat and he'd bolted at the first chance for a little fresh air and elbow room.

And 'first chance' meant the second Ace and Snake were out of sight when they'd taken off to try and hustle some cash or lift from one of the stores while the employees were too busy moving products for spring. He wasn't technically supposed to be out on his own, something that had been driving him up the wall more and more these days. He was sixteen now and sure his hight hadn't gotten any better, but dammit he thought the age should've counted for something.

But Ace and Snake still treated him the same, still the 'baby' of the gang age wise and it wasn't fair. Both of them had been out on the street when they were younger than him, alone with nobody to watch their backs until they found each other. He was just as street wise as they were- they'd taught him, they should know he'd be fine. If he wanted to walk down Trade Street by himself then he should be able to. He didn't need them to babysit him anymore.

At least that's what he told himself when he got to the end of Trade. Passed the boulevard was a gray area they just called 'No Man's Land', two city blocks that separated downtown from the eastern projects- but more importantly, separated the Gangreen from another group.

Normally the in between was safe, but then again, the rest of the guys were normally with him.

Arturo jogged across the road anyway, dodging between cars idling in the rush hour grid lock. He wouldn't take long, just troll around for a minute and head to the dump before Ace and Snake got back.

He'd managed the first block just fine before he saw their reflections in a store window. There was only two, skulking in the alleys, trying to look inconspicuous like the ugly purple bandannas weren't a dead giveaway. Seriously who thought florescent purple that was bright enough to give even Lisa Frank a headache would be a good color to fly for a gang? One even had his hair streaked with it and Arturo had to wonder how the shit hadn't burned though his skull.

For a second Arturo thought about trying to lose them in the storage lot across the street, he was fast enough, he knew the labyrinth of little garages well enough to do it. But no, he wasn't going to run. They looked new, fumbling around and knocking into trash cans like they didn't know the area. He could take them. Easy.

He ducked into the next alley he walked passed like he'd been taught. "Never out in the open, keep it on the down low, got it?" was what Ace had always said, told him that getting caught for legit gang activity would get them more than a Puff beating and an overnighter in jail. So he did everything by his boss's unwritten book. Checked that there were no windows, no bums hanging around, stood in the middle of the alley so he'd have room to move, faced the front and waited.

The two rounded the corner,all arrogant swagger and talking way too loud.

"What's your moldy, chicken nugget sized ass doin' out here?"

"Haven't heard that one yet." Arturo made himself sound casual, like being out numbered didn't bother him at all, like it didn't even blip on his radar. "I'm just out for the weather."

"Without your boys?" The one with the dye in his hair took a few more steps in, the fake, mocking concern grating. "Little dangerous for you to be all alone out here ain't it?"

"Me? Nah. You two..? You fucked up."

He couldn't meet them grille-to-grille, but the hight difference wouldn't be a problem for long, he knew how to compensate. It was easy to get in range, they obviously didn't know what they were doing, they couldn't land a hit on him and stumbled and floundered when they tried to get a kick in.

One tried to punt him and over shot, flailing comically as he tried to keep his balance. Arturo ducked under him, sharply nailing his elbow into the guy's groin and sending him to the ground with a shrill yell.

"Sounds like your balls ain't even dropped." Arturo mocked the crumpled heap.

The other rushed him swinging a wide kick that caught the green teen on the side of his neck and jaw. But it was misplaced enough that it didn't outright bowl him over. Arturo grabbed the still raised leg and _shoved_. The boy tap danced backwards and toppled, purple head smacking onto the dirty concrete.

Perfect, Arturo was good at the ground game, it was the only chance he got to go for shots at someone's face.

Before the clown haired little shit could shake off the fall Arturo was on him, one knee pushing down on his windpipe and raining down haymakers, wanting to make his face match his hair. He got in some good hits, blood flying out of the guy's mouth, the satisfying ' _crunch_ ' when he hit his nose just right, and the eyebrow piercing coming away with one of the blows before his new punching bag got his second wind. The kid grabbed a fistful of black hair and rolled, pitching them both sideways and knocking Arturo off.

This was the downside to taking a fight to the ground, worrying about getting flipped and pinned. But the wannabe was inexperienced and Arturo had been scrapping and wrestling around with the guys for years. He went for the eyes, got some jabs in , and rammed his fingers into the hallow of the other's throat. The second the body on top of him let up enough for him to get his shoulders up off the ground Arturo reared back and head butt the guy right in his already broken nose.

The kid hollered and fell back on his ass, curling on his side and making noises like a kicked dog. Off to the side the other one was still holding his crotch, wheezing and blubbering and not going anywhere any time soon.

Feeling like a self satisfied asshole with his victory, Arturo started looting their pockets- to the winner the spoils and all that crap, right? Loose bills that might be enough to get the gang some dollar menu burgers if he could figure out a lie about how he got the cash. Some gum, lint, cell phones he was definitely taking with him- one even had his charger with him-, gas station receipts, and..

It was on the one he'd elbowed in the jewels, a little zip-lock bag like spare buttons or small parts for electronics came in. The plastic belly was full of fine white powder.

He cracked the seal, licked the tip of his finger, and dipped it in. He spit as soon as it touched his tongue. Yeah, that shit wasn't sugar.

Hard drugs? In _**Townsville**_?

There'd been rumors about the man that headed the group in the projects. That he was from Citiesville, crossed the bridge when he couldn't stake a claim on his mother soil. But to bring this kind of shit over was news.

He looked down at the baggie, to the mouth of the alley, to the two what he guessed were newbie mules, and back to the bag. _"Ace would kill me. Straight up_ _ **murder**_ _me in cold blood if he knew I even touched this."_

But what if they could sell it? Get some food money out of it? He could hide it in the dump on his way back, somewhere they hung around a lot, and pretend to find it in full view of the boss man. The rest would be up to Ace, but it was worth a shot, right?

"It'll work. Ace won't find out." He told himself and shoved the zip-lock along with the cell phones and cash in his pockets.

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* * *

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Back in the dump he hid the blow in the drawer of a beat to hell office desk just off their walking trail to the trash compactor. Next time they passed it he planned to climb on it like he usually did and 'accidentally' kick the drawer out and find the bag.

As he made a beeline for the shack he tried to think of a way to convince the others not to rat him out for taking off. Billy would vouch for him if he could keep from telling Ace and Snake he was hiding something from them. Or he could just tell the big guy he hadn't left the dump at all and he'd probably believe him. Grubber was a whole different ballgame. He'd warned Arturo about going out in the first place and when he saw the bruises on his knuckles he would definitely want to tell Ace and Snake.

Maybe he could bribe him with those fancy crosswords from the bookstore he liked so much. Hard to steal, but it would be worth it if it worked.

He'd just about had it all polished and figured out by the time the shack came into view- and his gut twisted.

Snake was sitting on the front steps, arms folded across his knees as he took hards draws on the cigarette between his black lips.

Feeling like he was walking the green mile he dragged his feet all the way to the bottom of the steps, the older gangster staring him down the whole time.

Snake took the dying breath of the cig and blew the smoke out his nose, making him look dragon-like and scary as hell. "Where were youss?"

It wouldn't do him any good to lie. Worth a shot anyways.

"Just took a walk around the block. You think you's the only one that hated winter, Snake?" He tried to be casual, like it was no big deal and he wasn't ready to run with his tail between his legs as he walked passed the other teen. He didn't even make it within arms reach of the door before a hand was on his shoulder, squeezing with the strength it was easy to forget Snake had.

The older gangreen was standing now, curved posture straightening, needle-like fangs bared. And with his rail thin body hidden from the chill by jeans and a thick hoodie, he looked a hell of a lot more intimidating than he normally would. It was common knowledge Snake had a built in bullshit meter and Arturo knew he was getting the 'beep-beep-beep-liar-red light- LIAR'.

"You wanna tryss that again? Maybe with the truth thisss time?"

"It was nothin'-"

"Your face iss a messs." Snake hissed, tongue flickering out with irritation, "You wanna tell me that'sss 'nothing'?"

Arturo rubbed at his cheek and yup there was dirt on it from the the kid's shoe. The tenderness probably meant a bruise too. Great.

"It was a quick fight, nothin' serious, _I swear_." God, he hated the way he sounded, like damn kid defending a playground scrap to their mom.

Snake's lips thinned, shoulders tensing. "You got jumped?"

"No." Scrambling to stop Snake from freaking out Arturo's mouth jumped ahead before he really knew what was coming out of it. "I mean they were stalkin' me down East Avenue, but it ain't like they were good at it- I knew they were there. I lead 'em down an alley and was over in like two minutes and they barely touched me."

He didn't notice his friend had paled about three shades until it had all spilled out.

" _ **Wait**_ , you- oh my Godsss.." Snake let go of Arturo's shoulder to light up another cigarette, hot boxing it for a few inhales like he was taking his frustration out on the thing. "You left the sshack. You crosssed the terf boarder. You sset up a fight you were out numbered in insstead of getting the hell out of theres. And don't you dare lie to me and ssay you couldn't, I sshowed you every way out of No Man'ss mysself. And you pulled all thiss sshit _**alone**_. _**What the fuck, Arturo**_?"

"Snake, _**dammit**_ , I'm sixteen!"

Snake's teeth visibly grit on his smoke, slit eyes getting hard and narrow. " 'Sscusse me?"

Right, okay, Snake had his second-in-command vibe going on today and he apparently wasn't putting up with any shit.

Arturo tried to bite back on his anger. "I don't need a babysitter. _I beat their asses_. Isn't that good enough for you?"

"Okay, lemme assk you ssomethingss." Snake jabbed the cigarette like an accusing finger, "Ssay they actually knew what they were doing, or there were more. Then whatss? We wouldn't know where you were- it never crosssed my mind you'd go to No Man'ss. You could've been dying sssomewhere and we wouldn't know."

Taking another hard draw, Snake's tense shoulders slowly dropped, like he was exhaling his anger with the smoke. "Do you get what I'm ssaying?"

 _I get you think I didn't know all that already like I'm a fucking idiot_. But he'd knocked heads enough with the guy for one day, so he kept that to himself. "Si, I get it."

"Okayss," Snake inclined his head to the flimsy, plywood door, "get in, we brought food."

" 'Ey, Snake?" Arturo looked back with his hand on the door knob. "You gonna tell Boss?"

"Nopess." The second in command's sharp nailed hand covered his and opened the door for him. "You are."

Ace was at the head of the card table, nails drumming on the wood and looking all sorts of pissed off. "Where the _fuck_ you been?"

 _Shiiiit_

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* * *

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The gang didn't really have any kind of punishment system other than knocking each other around, but Arturo was pretty sure he was as close to 'grounded' as they could manage.

Ace and Snake stuck close to the gang after the whole fiasco. And when the gang did go out they kept a close eye on everyone. The younger three couldn't even go out an goof off in the dump by themselves without getting tailed.

That went on for three weeks and it was like the winter all over again. Everyone strung out and aggravated from the stress of being cooped up. Then finally- _**finally -**_ Ace let them all go back to normal.

In the weeks climbing through March Arturo kept his mouth shut about the cocain in the desk. He'd check on it, make sure a roving bum hadn't found it, but he never 'found it' in front of the guys or told anyone about it. After the unholy chew out he'd gotten for bailing and the weeks that came after, it just never seemed like the right time.

Then one of the phones he'd jacked from those purple mules got a text. He only played on the thing in the wee hours of the morning when the gang slept. The other one had died a day after he'd taken it and a little pick-pocketing lie later, he'd given it to Ace to pawn off. This one though, the one with the charger, he'd kept for himself. Sticking the charger into the only plug-in outlet in the shack and playing the downloaded games on mute. When he'd turned it on this time there was an immediate 'new message' notification.

"its SNOWING on oak st lol - from UNKNOWN number"

At first he didn't get it. It was almost April now and it was in the 50s outside, they hadn't seen snow or even sleet in almost a month. Then it hit him, they were talking about the _other_ kind of 'snow'.

Now he was faced with what to do about it. It wasn't like he could tell Ace, he'd be outting himself. Even if he 'found' the baggie in front of them and somehow convinced them to go to Oak Street, whoever texted him would be long gone. Or worse, still there and then run their mouth about the text and he'd be screwed.

So he had two options: he could ignore the message and wait like he'd planned or he could make the sale himself.

He knew where the street was, it was just down from Pokey Oaks. And the guys had only been asleep for about an hour, they wouldn't even roll over until noon. Deals were quick, he'd be gone and back long before then.

He could finally get rid of the bag, make some food money.. and maybe a small part of him wanted to spite Ace and Snake for everything that had been going on and just prove- if only to himself- that he could do it.

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* * *

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Okay 50 degrees had been an exaggeration. It may not have been cold enough to snow, but it was cold enough that Arturo was freezing his green ass off as he cut through the Pokey Oak's playground.

It was right at dawn and since Townsville didn't start bustling until around nine am. he was the only one roaming the streets. Well, him and the man sitting at the Oak Street bus stop- where the bus didn't run for another two hours.

Arturo checked, and double checked, and just for good measure, checked one more time to make sure there wasn't another living soul on Oak Street other than the two of them. There wasn't so he shuffled over and took a seat on the edge of the bus stop bench.

The man side-eyed him for a few minutes before sticking a cigarette between his scarred lips. "Colder'n a penguin's frosty ass out here, ain't it?"

Huh, Yellow Bands, the same kind Snake smoked. Fuck, if he knew he was out here..

"Ye, cold enough to _snow_."

The silence stretched for a second as the guy puffed. "Wasn't expecting you to be so short, they got kids runnin' this shit now?"

Yeah, _**really**_ not what he wanted to hear right now.

"I'm older than I look. "Arturo snapped and hopped off the bench, "We doin' this or am I walkin'?"

 _Now_ the guy got with the program, "No no no! Wasn't tryin' to piss you off, I was just checkin', ya know? I mean, I was lookin' for purple, not green."

"Call it an upgrade." He didn't really have any right to be waving his green pride around right now considering he was tap dancing all over one of the only rules Ace had ever lain down behind the gang's backs, but this stranger didn't need to know that.

"As long as you got what I need, I can be color blind." Heaving off the bench the man walked to the alley just behind the bus stop. "I got a barrel fire over here."

As Arturo followed he tried to think of every bad cop movie he'd ever watched, trying to think of what to say, what to do. He at least knew enough to make sure they were the only two in the alley, not be the first to show his hand, waits until he sees the money. It's all going smooth and for a second he thinks this is all there is to it and everything's good-

Until it's not.

"I just need one more thing, just-. No disrespect. Honest. It's- I don't know you and I've never heard of you guys sellin' before and I just need to know it ain't a dirty product."

There's a nagging in the back of Arturo's mind. That, no, this scarred lipped, wax skinned stranger had no right to be asking for anything. He lets it slide anyway.

 _Stupid_

When he says okay the mangy junkie gets kid-in-a-candy-store happy, scampering around like the rats under their feet to get what he needed. There's a belt, a rusted spoon, dented up water bottle that Arturo would bet the four dollars in the bottom of his shoe was filled with gutter run off, a lighter.. and a syringe. He didn't know the ins and outs of this whole thing, but Arturo was pretty damn sure the rust on the spoon and the tinted water just put this bad idea into pop-rocks and coke territory.

Arturo at least had enough hold on the situation to negotiate that he be the one to load the spoon, keeping the baggie with him and away from the buyer since he still didn't have his money.

"Hurry up, I got places to be." he grouched as he handed over the spoon. The longer this dragged on the more paranoid he was getting, the more chance there was of one of one of the guys waking up and noticing they were down a man.

His paranoia must have been contagious because the man started getting twitchy, getting more water on his jeans then on the spoon when he tried to tip the bottle. Or maybe it was lottery winning excitement of getting his fix.

"Won't take long." the man said, flicking the lighter to life and holding the flame under the spoon, "Just gotta let the sauce cook a minute."

Arturo was too busy watching the mix bubble to notice he was being watched too.

"First time, kid?"

Again with the 'kid' shit. "Do I _look_ like I hang around watchin' strangers play Cooking Mama with cocaine?"

The lighter flicked off and the man fiddled with the needle. "Meant if this is the first time ever shootin' up."

Arturo's not proud of how long it takes for the question to make sense and when it does his chest goes tight in panic. This whole time he man hadn't been asking if _he_ could sample.

 _Stupid stupid stupid_

"It won't be much, not even a full hit- not even half." the addict's babbling, terrified of scaring the teen off, "I just have to know you're willing to take it too so I know it ain't tainted. Like in the movies ya know? They make someone else take a sip of the drink so they know it ain't poison?"

Yeah and that was part of the problem, he _didn't_ know if the shit was clean. And if it was before, it probably wasn't anymore with the rust and dirty water it got cooked in. Now would have been a good time to red light the bastard and get the hell out of dodge. But he's so close to actually pulling this off and lets his need to prove make him stupid.

Arturo holds his hand out for the belt.

He didn't know what he was doing and he's awkward with it, but if tv was anything to go on he knew he needed it tight enough to get a clear shot at his veins. He fiddles with the faded buckle, trying not to watch when syringe get loaded up because damn this feels all kinds of wrong, and tries to tell himself he's overreacting. It's just a prick, and as for the drug, millions of people do it every day, he'll be fine.

 _Stupid stupid stupid. He was so fucking_ _ **stupid.**_

He doesn't watch when the needle sinks into his arm, just grits his teeth and counts because the weight of the situation is finally hitting him and he wants to run which isn't really an option anymore. The man takes the buckle from his clenched fist and when he lets the loop go loose Arturo finally looks.

The shit inside the syringe was brown.

It shouldn't be brown. _Why was it brown_ -

He doesn't know if it's the sudden animal terror of realizing what he'd just let get shot into his blood _was_ tainted or the drug itself, but he's suddenly viciously sick. When he went to sit down it felt like going through a corkscrew on a rollercoaster, world going vertigo around him. Everything was too fast and too slow at the same time, making him motion sick while lying still.

Lying? Yeah. Yeah, he was down with his cheek on the pavement. He didn't know how he'd got there, with his head buzzing like a beehive it was hard to keep track of what was going on.

It was too much, too fast, everything getting twisted and warped in his head. He was _scared_.

 _"You could've been dying sssomewhere and we wouldn't know. Do you get what I'm ssaying?"_

 _ **Now**_ he did and it was too late to do him any good; he'd already fucked up, already went and done what Snake had been so afraid of happening.

He gets halfway through last ditch a prayer for his life before he blacks out.

.

* * *

.

When Arturo woke up there was no good morning sunshine, bright eyed and bushy tailed bullshit coming from his body. There was a burning ache all over, from the roots of his hair down to his feet. Skin felt like shrink wrap, mouth was dry with a taste on the back of his tongue like he'd licked the inside of an ashtray, and more or less felt like he'd been been thrown in a blender.

It feels like there's sludge in his skull instead of a brain and it takes him what feels like an eternity to get a grip on anything. Then he remembers the junkie. The needle. Shooting up with dirty cocaine like a fucking idiot..

He's sort of hoping to pass out again so he doesn't have to face what he's done, but the world starts coming into focus whether he likes it or not.

The room is irritatingly white and there's an annoying beeping coming from a machine he guesses is part of the little thing clamped around his finger. A heart monitor. He was in Townsville Mercy Hospital.

He had to wonder who'd found him, he didn't think a civilian would have bothered with someone like him and since there weren't any cuffs on his wrists he ruled out cops. Maybe his buyer had a bleeding heart?

Had the guys been told? A bitter part of him wondered if they cared after this mess. God, he hoped they did..

For a while he just sat there on the bed and drowned in the guilt. He'd pulled a lot of crap in his life: theft, assault and battery, breaking and entering, grand theft auto- well he'd been a passenger anyway-, vandalism, the list went on. But this was a whole different level. He felt like he'd betrayed the guys- hell he _had_ , he'd done it out of spite for Ace and Snake actually giving a damn about him.

He hoped they still cared, but he honestly wouldn't blame them if they didn't, if they kicked him out- if they hadn't _already_. Nobody had ever been booted before, but he seemed to be having a lot of firsts in the last few months.

It was that thought that made him move. He had to go to the dump, had to make sure. The machines went wild when he took the clip thing off his finger but he planned to be out of here before any nurses showed up- or it was the plan until he realized he was wearing one of those paper gown things.

There was a little sliding closet across the room maybe there was some spare scrubs in there. Or hopefully his actual clothes-

The door clicked open and, "The hell'sss all the noisse-? What are you doing up?"

And Arturo just stared like a deer in headlights, the rush of relief and hope shorting him out. Because Snake was _here_. He wouldn't be here if he didn't still care, right?

"Arturo?" After just being stared at Snake snaps his fingers a few times. "Heys, you with me?"

"Si." As hard as it was for him to believe. " 'M here."

Snake didn't look impressed. "Uh-huh. Well, howss about you get your mcnugget asss back in bed anywayss until sssomeone tellss uss you're not going to keel over."

For once, Arturo didn't fight Snake bossing him around- doubted he'd complain about it for a long, long time.

He'd gotten about halfway up before a nurse came scurrying in to silence the screeching monitor and got a long lecture for being up and taking off the sensor. She didn't stay long though; kept her distance the whole time, constantly glancing at Snake where he leaned against the wall like she was ready to bolt out the door in a heartbeat if he even breathed wrong. But before she left she did end up telling them that Arturo was fine and could leave when all the 'legalities' checked out.

"She was friendly." Arturo snorted.

Snake looks smug and shrugs his thin shoulders. "We haven't exactly been making _friendsss_. They kept trying to make sstuff complicated with legal bullssshit, Ace and me jusst told'em what we thought about itss."

Yeah, he could just imagine the two of them cussing, snarling, probably throwing one of those uncomfortable plastic chairs around.

"Ssshe had a point though. You didn't know if you were okay or not, you could've cracked your sskull open or ssomething when you got up. What were you doing anywayss?"

Arturo didn't want to kill the calm mood by saying 'Leaving to make sure you wasn't going to abandon me.', so he settled for half the truth. "Lookin' for some actual pants."

"Don't blame you there, your asss iss hanging out in that johnny." Snake laughed as he pushed off the wall, walking over to the bed. "But, Ace grabbed you ssome when they let him out of jail thiss morning. He's at the front dessk terrorizing the sstaff, but he'll be in here in a sssec."

" _Jail_?" It wasn't hard to believe, but the thing was that he'd never gotten booked without the rest of them before. "What'd he do?"

Snake's black lips thinned and he leaned his hip against the bed, half sitting beside him. "He almosst beat a junkie half to death on Oak Sstreet."

 _Oh_

"Wasn't no 'almost' about it." Ace cut in from the doorway, sounding like a right satisfied asshole as he kicked the door shut behind him. "Fucker's in ICU over in Citiesville- wouldn't be 'half' either if they didn't transfer him before I got out for- what'd they call it, Snake?"

"Acquitted for sself defensse by proxy." Snake claps a hand on the younger gangreen's shoulder. "They ssaid they wouldn't rule it ass asssault because he was protecting you when you couldn't."

Looking down at Ace's bruised, busted open knuckles Arturo had the insane urge to cry and laugh at the same time. He'd made the worst decision of his life and Ace had spilled blood and gotten locked up defending him anyway.

"Wasn't _just_ me though." Ace shoots a fanged grin at Snake. "But I took all the credit so Snake could come here with you."

Okay, Arturo was _really_ considering crying. "Guys, I'm sorry-"

Ace stops him by dropping a hole riddled grocery bag with his clothes in it on his lap. "We'll talk about all that later, alright?"

"You're not mad?"

"We're furiousss." Snake squeezes his shoulder, so grounding and almost gentle that Arturo could almost think of it as a one armed hug. "But it can wait. We're jussst glad you're okayss."

"One thing that _can't_ wait, though, is us gettin' a move on." Ace said over them from where he'd walked across the room and pried open the window.

"Grubber and Billy already in the parking lotss?" Snake more or less hauls Arturo off the bed because he has _no_ idea what the two of them are going on about.

"Told'em to to head out after the nurse said he was awake."

Hopping on one foot to get his other pant leg on, Arturo tries to hurry as Snake vaults over the ledge and hears the clang of sneakers on a fire escape. "What are we doing again? I'm lost."

Ace heaves himself over, keeping himself there by the inside frame. "Jumpin' out the window before the docs catch on that we're skippin' out on your bill." And then he drops.

Damn he loved them, he really really did.

.

.

* * *

 **Author's Note:  
** This is something I wrote in early 2012 and rewrote/revised through a lot of trial and error just for this collection.


	3. Salty and Sweet (SnAce Valentines)

Ace is salty on Valentines Day, all the schmoozing is getting on his nerves and maybe he feels kind of left out. A follow up of _**Chapter 1: April Fools In Love**_.

SnAce, some bitterness and Valentines Day hate, degenerate adorableness, Chris the Pizza Boy from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends makes a cameo

Alternate title: _**Dating Tips As A Broke Homeless Teen by Ace D. Copular**_

Ace blames the holiday, with it's cheap teddy bears and dime store cards making him feel stupidly lonely. He was surrounded by four other people 365 days a year for fuck's sake, he didn't have a reason to feel lonely because he was never _alone_.

Still, another googly eyed couple hug-walks over to the arcade's prize counter for a heart nosed teddy bear and it pisses him off and he doesn't know _why_. All this Valentines Day noise was messing with his head.

Or he was just feeling left out of the experience and didn't that thought make him want to kick his own ass.

He'd never celebrated. Never had a reason to. The most Ace had ever done was cause some trouble with the boys; photo bomb some pictures, steal some candy in the mayhem of people trying to find the cutest stuffed animal or the sappiest card. Sometimes he'd spice it up and take advantage of whatever free samples restaurants and bakeries put out to get people to come in for whatever food they had for the 'special' day. Why he had to stupid urge to get in on all the hopeless romantic crap this year was beyond him.

He thinks maybe it's an age thing too. Being onthe tail end of his teens, maybe his hormones or whatever were flaring up with all the 'romance' in the air- _Polluting_ the air was more like it because he feels like gagging as yet another fucking couple started shooting at the basketball game beside his and 'kissed for good luck'.

Ugh.

"Alright, let's get outta here." Ace doesn't even shoot his last ball, just slings his arm around Snake's shoulders and pulls him away from his own game. "Had about all of **that** I can stand."

A sharp, two-note whistle from Ace has the rest of the gang wading through the crowd to meet up at the coin machine. "C'mon boys, we're leavin'- before we catch somethin'."

The rest of Townsville was in the same state, all tussed up in hearts and Hallmark words so sweet they were dripping with sugar. All down the street people are holding hands, lugging around gift bags, spewing some 'You will forever be my always.' they probably got off a Lifetime commercial. On every corner there were vendors with more bears, cards, and roses; saying they had the perfect thing for every passerby's 'special someone' and wishing everyone a happy Valentines.

"What's _wrong_ with people?" Ace asks as they pass two teenagers making out on a bus stop bench like they wouldn't see each other in class tomorrow.

"It's _amor_ , Boss." Faking a swoon Arturo dramatically leans on Grubber who's making mocking kissy faces.

"It's insanity is what it is. I mean look at that," Ace flicks his hand toward someone prancing- honest to God _prancing_ down the sidewalk before pulling a singing-in-the-rain lightpole swing. "People are losin' their damn minds."

"Ey, I thought you Italians were supossed to be _romantics_." Arturo teases, jokingly elbowing Billy's leg.

"Yup, 'when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie'." Billy sing songs and Arturo and Grubber lose it, finishing ' _and that's amore_!' before howling with laughter.

Ace snorts, "Do I look like I'm the kind of person to waste perfectly good spaghetti on a mangy mutt and a lap dog? Can't belive I let you guys watch that movie."

"I don't know about playin' cupid with dogs, jefe, but," snickering, Arturo climbs up on Billy's shoulder for safety, "I know you _are_ a cheesy sap that kisses you're _boyfriend's_ fingers when your holdin' hands!"

" _ **It was an April Fools thing!**_ "

Snake pulls his hat down over his face in embarrassment. "They're never gonna let uss live it down, Bosss.."

As they made their way back to the dump the guys terrorize people here and there, gagging at kisses, yell 'He's compensating!' when some douche bag looks too proud of their car when they pick up their date, the usual stuff. Except Ace isn't really in on the fun.

It was a throw away comment, just them poking fun and taking the piss out of each other like always and he knew Arturo hadn't meant anything by it. But Ace kept thinking about last year's dud of a prank. Now he knew for sure why he was pissed at all the couples. When they passed some love birds holding hands he thought back to doing the same thing on April Fools Day last year with Snake and that pathetic, lonely feeling came back. He really was feeling left out and that happy little revelation made him want to go crawl under a rock.

He was _pining_ for fuck's honest sake- and for a relationship that hadn't actually been real.

"I'm gonna stay out here for a while, you guys go inside." Ace says when they get back to the shack.

The half dead tv wouldn't have anything on except Valentines specials and it was a safe bet the few radio stations the stereo could pick up on would be giving nothing but love songs.

It's stupid- counter productive as hell- but he thinks back to April Fools. How comfortable, how _easy_ it had been to play up a relationship with Snake. They'd been together so damn long; completely inseparable ever since they ran smack into each other five years ago in a back alley, each running from store owners they'd stolen food from, then while they were picking themselves up off the pavement Snake had grabbed his arm with a quiet "This way!" and that had been that. The closeness during April Fools had just felt so natural, he hadn't thought anything of it because it had always _been_ there.

Lost in thought, Ace picks at his nails, clicking them together and pushing at his ripped cuticles. They were dirty, his hands almost always were- figuratively and literally. Dirt and blood under his nails, calluses on his palms, busted knuckles, little cuts and scars all over.

They were a mess, but Snake had held his hand anyways.

Ace stares at the knots in the wood steps like maybe they can tell him what to do until the flimsy door opens and shuts behind him.

Snake sits beside him, knocking their knees together. "You okay, Bosss?"

"Yeah, 'm good. This V-day crap's just gettin on my nerves y'know? Can't have fun in the arcade, Can't watch tv, can't even listen to the radio without the hearts and roses crap. It's givin' me a headache."

It wasn't a total lie, but like hell he was going to tell Snake the whole truth. He already felt like a damned fool as it was, he didn't even want to think about the ass he'd make of himself if he actually blabbed. 'Oh yeah, I'm great. Just feeling left out from all the fun because we fake dated last year and it felt nice.'.

Not. Fucking. Likely.

Snake makes a little hum, "It'ss not all bad though."

 _Buddy, if you only knew._ "Yeah? How you figure?"

"You tellss me." Snake says as he hands over a plastic mini-mart back Ace didn't realize he'd brought with him.

Inside are two clear candy trays with glued on bows and glitter and dark little squares resting in the slots. He'd know the stuff anywhere and for the first time today the kind of likes Valentines Day.

"Hot damn, how'd you get two?" Ace asks, already tearing into one and popping a raspberry creme filled square- his absolute favorite- in his mouth. "These things go crazy fast."

"One wass in damage at the mini-mart, the other wass in ssomeone'ss sshopping bag at the Oak Tree busss sstop."

Normally, this would be where Ace would crack a joke, pull some fake romantic line to get them laughing. But right now all he can think of is the fact that every year- Every. Single. Year.- since they'd met, Snake got him these chocolates because he knew they were his favorites. He'd shoplift or straight up rob somebody just to make sure Ace got.. Well, what was essentially a Valentines present, even though neither of them had ever called it that.

Again, Ace blames the stupid holiday because he has the stupid urge to get closer and hold Snake's stupid hand because he got him the stupid candy he loves and it makes him feel fucking _**stupid**_.

Oh man, he was in trouble..

* * *

Ace does tend to wander so the guys only look slightly confused when he tells them to stay at the shack while he goes off for a bit. They'd managed to catch My Bloody Valentine on the rigged cable so he figures he has an hour and a half, maybe two depending on commercial breaks, of the slasher keeping them occupied. He doesn't think they'll come looking before then, especially after he gave the stay command, but he sets the movie's running time as a deadline just in case.

At the far end of the east side dump he parks his ass on a graffittied bench and waits. The red light is out of the way, people don't come this way unless they're trying to get to the industrial side of town or into the dump itself. Restaurants and fast food places are a good ways away and anybody that worked in the warehouses and power plants either brought their food from home, or had it delivered. Ace is banking on the later because he's nothing if not an opportunist.

He's only waiting about twenty minutes, judging from the muffled roar of the subway a few streets over, when a ugly jalopy with a plastic Genero's Pizza sign stuck on the roof putt-putts up to the red light. The teen behind the wheel has his nose stuck in his phone as soon as the car comes to a complete stop and that's when Ace makes his move.

Which is waltzing right up to the sputtering thing and plopping himself right down in the passenger seat like he owned it.

The kid yelps, then pales when he realized who exactly just took up residence in his ride. "Oh no."

"Mhmm." Ace hums and changes the radio to Townsville's classic rock station. "Ya know who I am, so what say we skip the introduction and just tell me what'cha got in the back?"

The light's green now, but the delivery boy keeps his foot on the break and his jittery hands in his lap. "Umm.. a medium Hawaiian, large cheese, large meat lovers- with stuffed crust? And a large- I think- Italian."

Ace glances to the back seat, sighs, and reaches over to snag the name tag off the kid's shirt. " 'Chris'. This your first job, Chris?"

"Y-yes?"

"New at it?"

"I started two weeks ago?"

"Mm. Well, I'm gonna give ya a little friendly advice." In false gentleness Ace clips the name tag back into place and fixes the collar of the red and blue polo shirt. "I don't like bein' lied to."

Chris starts stammering, mouth opening and closing like a fish. No words are getting through, but the point gets across.

Ace jabs his thumb towards the back seat harshly. "Ya named off four things, there's six boxes. Now, I'm already in a shitty mood today and I dunno how the rest is gonna go. _So_ , help me out and work with me here."

There's an audible gulp as the deliver boy looks at the boxes the same way a dog looks at a rug it just pissed on. "They're.. They're new. Just for Valentine's ya know? I just forgot, m-my bad."

Ace turns his hand, impatiently motioning for the kid to continue, "And 'they' are?"

"Oh, right, uh, cookies." The delivery boy makes a little circle with his fingers, and Ace thinks he's either a ditz or so scared he's about to have a stroke. "They got the red, white, and pink hard shell candy chocolate hearts baked in so they look all cute and stuff. They come frozen but we-"

" _Chris_." Ace cuts off the nervous rammbling, "What'd I just say?"

Yup. Definatly so scared he's about to have a stroke because the teen almost crawls under the steering wheel at the snap. "S-sorry. You.. you're having a bad.. day?"

"That's right. So, you think I give a damn about how ya cook'em?"

"No?"

"No. Now, you know how the rest of this goes, ye?"

Chris's already slight shoulders drop more like he's doing his best impression of a deflating balloon. "I've got a good guess."

"We gonna have a problem with that?"

It's funny how Chris gives him a once over, like something in that little head thought he actually had a fighting chance, then looks like he'd tuck tail if he had one. They're about the same age, same weight class, but that's as even as they get, the rest is clearly in Ace's favor. You didn't live on the streets and go around getting in scraps with super powered five year olds and the odd monster without gaining a little bit of a physical advantage over 'normies'. Which was another glaring difference, Ace had a little more _bite_ in his DNA than a normal human.

"No, no problem."

"Good." Ace kicks open the door, planning of walking around the car to the backseat to get the boxes. "An' if you touch the gas when I get out, I'm hunting you down and hanging you off a freeway by your ankles."

When he gets back to the shack he's empty handed and they guys are watching the scene where the pickax murderer is revealed. There's a jumble of 'Hey, Boss's, but they're all still glued to the screen. It gives him time to think, polish up the little white lie he needed to tell so they could have a little privacy.

" 'Ey, Snake,"

Snake cranes his head back over the ratty couch.

"Lets go scrounge up somethin' to eat."

The guys look at him expectantly while Snake tosses the stale bag of chips he's had in his lap to Grubber and gets up.

"You guys hang here." He cuts off the whines of 'But, Boss' with a sharp snap, "I said _hang_. We ain't gonna be gone long."

They're quiet as they walk through the worn dirt path that cuts through the trash mounds. It's kind of weird actually. Ace has never felt awkward around Snake before, they'd known each other too well for too long. But right now, walking towards a half planned, half assed shot in the dark.. Maybe he's wrong. Maybe this is a bad idea and it's all in his head and he's about to fuck up the best thing he's ever had. Snake was the one that set the best friend bar in the first place, so what if he's just too emotionally constipated to know the line between platonic and romantic?

"Bosss?"

The hiss pulls Ace out from drowning in his own head and he realizes he'd stopped walking.

Snake back-tracks, getting in close and Ace likes to think it's closer than he normally got with they guys around. "You okayss?"

"It's nothin'." Ace rolls his shoulders, trying to make it look like a nonchelaunt shrug and less like he was trying to jitter out the nervous energy that was making his skin crawl.

"You're thinkingss too hard about ssomething." Snake points out. It was like the guy had a sixth sense tuned into Ace's emotional hard drive. Always knew when something was off, when something was bothering him, or he was upset- no matter how much he tried to put up a front and swaggered around like everything was fine. "What'ss wrong?"

"Ain't _wrong_ \- I don't think. At least I hope it ain't."

"Then what iss it?"

Well, Ace wasn't one to tiptoe into anything, he'd rather cannonball straight in and he'd already come too far to back out.

"Be betta' showin' ya." Ace leads them off the path, away from the dumps exit and towards the scraped cars area.

"We're not getting foodss?"

"Kinda already got it." Ace reaches through the busted out window of a chopshopped sports car and takes out one of the pizza boxes he's stashed in the driver's seat. "Got more boxes in there for the guys. But I was thinkin' me an' you could hang out for awhile away from everyone else. Just talk or somethin'?"

For a second Snake looks at him like he's talking Greek, because why wouldn't they hang out? It wouldn't be the first time they slipped off so just the two of them could do something. Then Ace can see it click, see the mental "Oh. _Oh_." written all over Snake's face.

There's a tense beat of silence and it scares the absolute hell out of him because Snake's not doing or saying anything, just staring right through the dark sheild of his shades like he knows exactly where to look to make eye contact. Ice blooms sharp and suffocating in Ace's chest and he realizes he's fucking _terrified_ of how this is going to play out.

Then Snake smiles. Not his nervous yes-man smile or the mean little grin he gets when he's about to drop kick a kid from the monkey bars; but a slow, easy, absolutely _giddy_ thing that lights up his eyes. "What took you sso long?"

Maybe it's because he feels sick with relief or maybe it's because Snake wasn't just saying yes, but apparently had been waiting- or hoping- this would happen; but Ace cracks up.

Still laughing his nerves off, Ace slings an arm around Snake's shoulders, "Hey, it's a two way street and I don't see you stealing pizza and invitin' me to a date on the hood of a chopshopped car."

"I sstole you your favorite candy, you want me to ssteal you rossess too?"

"No, I want on of those 'assorted bouquets' or whatever ya call'em so you can tell me which ones remind you of my smile and the color of my eyes." Aces tilts his glasses down and mockingly bats his eyelashes as they hop up onto the sun warmed hood of the car, setting the greasy pizza box behind them.

"Right, asssorted bouquet of carnivorousss, man-eating plantss and ssomething the color of an oil sslick."

" 'Oil slick', I like it." Ace reaches back and flips the lid on the box, passing Snake a slice and grabbing one for himself. "So, y'know how this 'date' stuff actually works?"

"You know I don't, jusst like I know you don't." Snake takes a bite of his pizza and shrugs, "Think there'ss ssupossed to be ssomething about candlelight dinner- we got the food partss covered-, and touchy-feely sstuff."

"Mm. Well," Ace's arm goes around Snake's hip , sneaking his hand down to grab at his ass as he shoves his pizza crust in his mouth, " 'touchy' I can do."

Snake snorts a laugh and braces his shoulder against Ace's as he sets his half eaten pizza back in the box. "Could give the feely thing a sshot if you wanna try kissssing for real thiss time."

" 'S at count as 'feely'?" Ace asks even though he's already leaning into Snake's space, "Sounds more 'touchy' to me."

Snake angles into the closeness, one arm going around Ace's back as the other pushes his shades up to his hairline. "Think sso. Normally feely'ss talking, but.."

"We ain't normal." Ace finishes with a little smirk. "Rather show then tell anyways, it's more fun."

Kissing 'for real' was better than the staged ones. Hell of a lot better. It didn't matter who was watching this time or if they could get a laugh out of it; this time it was just them doing whatever they wanted for themselves.

When the kiss goes to break Ace tugs Snake back to him with playful nips of his fangs so he can kiss him again. Snake smiles into the kiss and retaliates by flicking his forked tongue at his boss- which Ace chases after. The make-out felt more play than anything; nipping fangs, playful tongues, both grinning and laughing too much to get a good lip lock until it just dissolves into laughing and nuzzling.

A loud, distant shriek has them pulling apart before there's an explosion. Flames rise up over Townsville's sky line while bursts of pink, blue, and green shoot around.

"Well," Ace pops a pepperoni in his mouth and settles a little more solidly against Snake's side, "it ain't exactly candlelight."

"Think thiss iss more our sstyle though." Snake says and drags the pizza box closer.

He was right of course. They weren't normal people on a normal date at a normal restaurant having a normal candlelit dinner. But it suited them just fine. So they cuddled together, eating stolen pizza on the hood of a chopshopped car and watched the city burn.

* * *

Happy Valentines Day guys!


End file.
